Pranesh Sarkar KOLKATA, June 15: Are mainstream Opposition political parties like the Trinamul Congress and the Congress losing control of the movement in Nandigram?

After today's incidents, where police became the prime target of villagers, police officers now feel the movement in Nandigram is going out of the hands of mainstream political parties. Some militant groups have started steering the action, taking advantage of the failure of law machinery there, officers said.

A senior police officer told The Statesman: "Just compare the incident that took place on 14 March with what happened today. On 14 March, villagers did not attack police but they tried to stop the police by forming a 'human chain.' Police opened fire on them but not a single bullet was fired on police. But today a police camp, which was set up in Bhangabera Bridge in the Nandigram-Khejuri bridge, was attacked and rounds of bullets were fired from the direction of Sonachura."

Another officer said: "A large number of people staged a demonstration to oust a police camp from a school in Tekhali market. This incident took place at a time when both the warring groups have shown keen interest in setting up police camps in the area. These incidents clearly suggest that some militant groups have started leaving their influence in the area."

Police pointed at the firearms used in today's firing and said these were not any improvised firearms but regular firearms which were not easy to procure at all. Officers believe the firearms were brought in to the region after the incident that took place on 14 March.Mamata stand

Trinamul supremo Miss Mamata Banerjee today claimed the CPI-M was responsible for the fresh violence that boiled up in Nandigram today. "The attacks by the CPI-M have been going on for the last three months. They have been hurling bombs and firing at the people at Nandigram," she told reporters.